Monday, April 10, 2006

Idaho legislators: useless, insulting and intrusive

Idaho's legislators passed the so-called "informed consent" aka "Woman's Right to Know" bill that requires doctors providing abortions to foist anti-choice propaganda on women who go in for the procedure. As in other states, some of the information presented to patients is questionable or misleading.

My take on these laws is that they're pretty useless - I don't think many women go in for an abortion having no idea that they're going to be terminating their pregnancy, and pictures of developing fetuses probably aren't news to them either. In that regard, I also find them to be insulting. Women who darken the door of an abortion clinic aren't morons, even if pro-life activists would have you believe that they are too emotional or scared to know what they're doing. Along with being useless and insulting, they're intrusive on the doctor-patient relationship, with legislators (who probably haven't been to med school) deciding what medical information is relevant to a woman seeking an abortion. Oh, and did I mention that this passed 50-14? Heckuva job there, Republican supermajority.